Midnight Fears Friendly Clearings
by Dragea
Summary: Not the best title, but I'll go with it. This is just my take on the episode Midnight, were my character Briazra involved and traveling with the Doctor and Donna Noble. WARNING! There's going to be Doctor x OC fluff involved...
1. Prologue

"Midnight Fears Friendly Clearings"

By: Me/Dragea

_This is my take on the episode, _Midnight_, if my character Briazra Sparks had been involved with the Doctor and Donna Noble._

_Author's Notes and Disclaimer: I do not, and will never, claim to own Doctor Who, the episode Midnight, or any of its characters. The only character in this that is my own is one Briazra Jazzlyn Sparks. I also really hoped I can keep myself interested in this project enough to finish it._

"Come on, please! I don't want to go alone. They'll be boarding in like three minutes!" The Doctor ushered his raven-haired companion, both of them seemingly normal, but far from it. Like his second, albeit missing, companion, she seemed unwilling to go with him. The Raven-haired girl gave a sigh and light toss of the head, shoulder length strands of her hair swaying with the motion.

"Why don't you call and ask Donna again. Maybe the minute delay has given her enough time to change her mind. You never know." She offered, hoping somewhat. It wasn't that she didn't want to see the sights. Really, she did. But, she could feel strongly that she wouldn't want to be there for any sight in the world.

"She's not going to want to go, Briaz. I've tried." The Doctor sighed, but picked up the phone he was at, anyway. It would be worth the bugging if he could get just one of them to go. In his mind, he was a little preoccupied with wondering what had been worrying Briazra, his insightful dragonoid friend. But, quickly came back to his thoughts again as a rather loud, frustrated "I said, 'No'!" was voiced into his eardrums.

"Sapphire Waterfalls!" He offered, almost desperately, hoping it would be enough to change the fiery woman's mind. Or even Briazra's, who was very easily overhearing both sides of their conversation. "It's a waterfall _made _of sapphires! This enormous jewel the size of a glacier reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion and then shatters into sapphires at the edge. They fall a thousand feet into a Crystal ravine."

Briazra winced slightly, knowing that description of the view didn't help to keep her away, but perked up visibly to hear the conversation without missing anything. She held to some desperate hope that Donna would somehow change her mind. "I bet you say that to all the girls." The voice on the phone murmured, seemingly beginning to give in and yet obviously wasn't going to.

"Oh, come on! They're boarding now! It's no fun if I see it all on me own. Four hours, that's all it will take!" The Doctor continued to attempt to persuade, causing Briazra to chuckle. "Is that all? Might as well be an all day trip." She joked, as equally not swayed as Donna on the phone, who had just compared to four hours there and four hours back to a school trip. "I'd rather go sunbathing." Donna told him, finally.

"Well, be careful. That's extonic sunlight." The Doctor warned, hoping somewhat to scare her from sunbathing and going with him to no avail. She knew she was safe, due to the 15-feet thick glass. "Why doesn't Briazra go with you?" She asked, curiously, and a little bit worried. "She's right here. She says she doesn't want to go." The Doctor murmured, exasperatedly. "Alright. I give up. When I get back, we'll try that anti-gravity restaurant. With bibs." He told them, resulting in getting a chuckle from Briazra, chuckle getting louder as Donna told him to get off the phone.

"And, you be careful. Alright?" The feisty, sun-bathing redhead demanded, before the Doctor gave one of his usual reassurances. But, this one made Briazra frown. "Taking a big spacetruck, with a bunch of strangers, across a diamond planet called Midnight. What could possibly go wrong?" He asked, hanging the phone up.

"I hate you. You did that on purpose." Briazra grumbled, pinching the bridge of nose and sighing. The Doctor seemed innocently confused, asking her what she was talking about. "You know the whole, never say 'What could possibly go wrong?' because then everything goes wrong..." She muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Ah, I did say that, did I?" The Doctor asked, with a slight smirk, as they made their way to the spacetruck. He really hated to board alone, but he'd never seen the sights and that was rare. "Seeing me off, then? What do you plan to do then?" The Doctor asked Briazra, curiously. She very rarely went a separate way than him, and he had to admit, he found it a little bit upsetting.

"You _did_ say it on purpose! What is it with you and danger?" She uttered, rolling her eyes, as she followed behind the Time Lord. When he asked what she planned to do, she smirked. "Oh, whatever you do, I suppose. I'll admit, I'm not very good with long trips, so let's just mostly keep to the same conversations and whatever. Okay?" She joked, smirking and reflecting the one now on the Doctor's face. "Bought a ticket earlier. I was just hoping I wouldn't have to use it. We can't have you facing danger on your own now, can we?" She teased, jokingly, as they boarded together.

"I thought you said you didn't want to go." He retorted.

"I never said I wouldn't go. I was hoping Donna would change her mind so I wouldn't have to..." She explained.

"Danger?" The Doctor asked, smiling.

"Definitely." Briazra answered, returning the grin.


	2. Chapter 1: Meeting the People

_Chapter 1: Meeting the People_

The Doctor and Briazra took their seats towards the front of the tour vehicle. There weren't all that many other passengers, in all honesty. There was a know-it-all looking guy, a girl with him that seemed like his opposite, a business woman, and a family of three. The son of the family intrigued Briazra. Oh, and of course, there was their hostess of the vehicle. She came around, handing out earphones, some sort of games Bri thought she said, and lots of complimentary items. Briaz thanked her, though raised an eyebrow to the Doctor. That was a lot of items.

"I must warn you some of the products may contain nuts." The hostess warned, making her chuckle as the Doctor stated the obvious. "Enjoy you trip." She greeted, ready to continue her rounds. "Oh, I can't wait! Allons-y!" The Doctor exclaimed, just a little bit giddy to get going, hence his usual saying, which made the hostess turn back to him in confusion. "It means 'Let's Go'. He says that a lot... Apparently, it's French." Briazra clarified, around the time the Doctor was about to.

"They call it the 'Sapphire Waterfall,' but there's no such thing." The guy behind them started, but Briazra quickly tuned him out. Anything he had to say she could easily find out, and anyway, she just found him plain-out boring. Definitely, a know-it-all. She could probably get to like the girl with him, though, especially for sneakily grabbing earplugs. The Doctor, however, seemed intrigued, or maybe it was just people around them that were so interesting to him. It was possible. Briaz certainly wouldn't blame him, if so. However, the know-it-all quickly broke into her thoughts again, by introducing himself. Turning around, she took and shook his hand as he said his name.

"Hobbes. Professor Winfold Hobbes." He said, very professionally. The Doctor grinned, rather idiotically. "I'm the Doctor. Hello." He smiled. "And, I'm Briazra Jazzlyn Sparks." Briaz added in. "It's my fourteenth time." Professor Hobbes continued, to which the Doctor responded by saying it was their first times. "And, I'm Dee Dee. Dee Dee Blasco." His assistant eagerly offered her own hand, to which the Doctor and Briazra managed to shake before Professor Hobbes annoyingly told her not to bother them.

"And who's to say she was bothering us? Who's to say you weren't bothering us?" Briazra hissed out, obviously more than a little annoyed by the professor's behavior. Dee Dee seemed surprised but a little grateful, and the much older man, deeply offended. The Doctor gave a somewhat bemused look at her, but otherwise inwardly agreed the man could have let Dee Dee speak to them as Hobbes had done.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, and variations thereupon, welcome onboard the Crusader50. If you could fasten your seatbelts, we would be leaving any moment. Doors. Shields down." The Hostess called to them, then startled Briazra when she seemed to be uttering commands to the ship itself.

"I'm afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace. Also, a reminder: Midnight had no air, so please do not touch the exterior door seals. Fire exits to the rear and, should we need to use it, you first." She offered as reassurances, giggling. "And, now, I shall hand you over to driver Joe." She told them, pressing some sort of button as a map showed unto a screen in front of them.

"Driver Joe, at the wheel. There's been a diamond fall at the Winter Witch Cavern, so we'll be taking a slight detour as you'll see on the map. The journey covers 500 kliks to the multi-faceted coast. Duration is estimated at 4 hours. Thank you for traveling with us and, as they used to say in the old days, 'wagons roll'!"

"Well, this is nice." Briazra muttered, honestly. She liked dark, she liked quiet, but somehow, she expected it wouldn't stay that way for very long. Something about this all just definitely felt ominous, and she wrapped her arms around the Doctor's waist to show she was still worried about something.

"Aww, Briaz, don't be like that. Nothing's going to go wrong. I promise you we'll be alright." He told her, patting her head to make her feel better. He already knew of her feelings for him, and somewhere deep inside, he felt similarly, but hid them like he did all those other times he developed small crushes on his female companions. Still, she probably knew about it, and that bugged him a little bit, since if she did, she didn't say anything.

"I know. I just wish I knew why I keep getting this feeling." She admitted, in a mutter, as the hostess began speaking. Yup. There went the darkness and quiet. "Yeah... Music, cartoons, and bright lights don't mix..." Briaz muttered softly to a somewhat disturbed Doctor, who also didn't seem to favor the noise level.

She smirked as he pulled out his usual sonic screwdriver and did something clever to knock all of the noisy entertainment out. Mouthing a 'Thank you' to him, she listened as the Hostess apologized for "a failure of the entertainment system." Briazra snickered as the mother from that family onboard asked what to do. God knew, the Doctor always had the answers. They would have to talk to each other.

"Well, then, let's go meet the people." Briazra smirked.


	3. Chapter 2: An Unscheduled Stop

_Chapter 2: An Unscheduled Stop_

_98 kliks later…_

Well, the Doctor seemed entertained, listening to the pool anecdote of the parents. There was something about an abstract pool, but Briazra wasn't very interested. The business woman seemed a little bit annoyed, herself, attempting to read some sort of book. Bri smiled. It was too bad more people didn't read. Bri, herself, had her eye on the kid Jethro. He was fairly intriguing himself. Keen mind, he was an intellectual type. Briazra smirked to that, and went over.

"They often tell that story?" She asked, giving a sympathetic look. "Mind if I sit?" She asked, politely. Unlike the Doctor, she was more interested in whether someone wanted to talk than meeting people. He tended to just do what he wanted in the way of meeting new people or aliens. As long as they were friendly, of course. The kid seemed surprised but shrugged and moved slightly over, so that she could sit comfortably. Jethro huffed slightly at her question, it now registering.

"Far too often." He muttered in response. Briazra chuckled, raising an eyebrow towards the Doctor who was now really getting into the story himself. "The Doctor's an idiot sometimes. I wouldn't mind him. He's really quite great." She offered, hoping the kid didn't already think too badly of him. She noticed Jethro glance at him then back at her, and his question made her blush. "Are you two together?" He asked.

"N-no. Well... Not yet, anyway… He's kind of… Defensive. Well, I mean, we travel together, but-" She muttered, flushing. He smiled slightly. "But, you like him?" He asked, somewhat knowingly. Oh, yes, he had a keen mind and he was observant. "Can we change the subject? What are you listening to, anyway? I love music..." Briazra offered, pulling her MP3 player from the bag she was carrying, hoping the subject would change and stay off the Doctor.

Luckily, her bag didn't move. She didn't yet want to explain she had a dragon, and she wasn't even sure if pets were supposed to be onboard. However, she'd risk that chance, as long as no one was allergic to dragons and she doubted they were. Besides, she'd know about it by now, if they were, and no one seemed to be. But, she cleared her head of that worry as they swapped players to check each others' music, at Jethro's request. He seemed surprised and enthusiastic about her tastes in music, Briaz not so much, but she was flexible. There were several songs on it she liked, and she could obviously connect about her own music.

_150 kliks later..._

"Now, I'm just a second-year student. But, I wrote a paper on the Lost Moon of Poosh. Professor Hobbes liked it, read it, took me on his research just for the holidays. Well, he said 'research,' but most of the time he's got me fetching and carryin'. But it's all good experience." Dee Dee explained to the Doctor and Briaz, Briazra smiling the whole time. She sort of liked this girl, a little bit.

Dee Dee was nice, even offering the Doctor and her each a cup of coffee, though Briaz herself didn't drink coffee. She took the cup, anyway, to thank her for her effort to be nice. She had ways to be sneaky and look like she was drinking coffee, but really drinking something completely different. It was a talent of hers, which she felt she should more or less keep to herself for the time being.

"Did they find it?" The Doctor asked, causing them both to look at him, blinking in confusion. Briazra quickly adjusted, though, understanding what he meant a little late, while Dee Dee had to ask, "Find what?"

"The Lost Moon of Poosh." He asked, in such a way that caused the both of them to giggle. "You know, you _could_ say that a little more seriously, Doctor." Briazra joked, chuckling, mostly because she knew what his response would be. "Awe, but it's so much fun to say. Poosh." He repeated, smirking, and making Briaz chuckle again. "Silly Doctor, you." She teased, joking.

"No. Not yet." Dee Dee finally answered, seemingly very amused by their antics, and almost not wanting to interrupt them.

"Well, maybe that'll be your great discovery one day." He offered for reassurance, smirking, and holding up his cup. "Here's to Poosh!" He cheered, half just looking for an excuse to say the name again. Briazra rolled her eyes, meanwhile chortling a bit in the process. Holding up her own cup to his with Dee Dee, who also cheered, she then brought it down to take a sip. "Crazy Doctor." She joked, smirking.

_209 Kliks later..._

"So, are you two both traveling alone or with someone?" Sky asked, sharing a meal in conversation with the Doctor and Briazra. Briazra felt another slight blush creeping onto her cheeks, but quickly spoke up. "Well, I'm actually traveling with him. He saved my life, and I decided he needed to be around people. And, there's a third, too, but she stayed behind." She explained, sitting in the chair behind them and looking over the seat, resting her chin on the backs. "In the Leisure Palace." The Doctor added, then asked, "And you?"

"No. It's just me." She uttered, a hint of being upset in her tone, though it was a little hard to hear. Briazra still knew. The Doctor nodded sympathetically, too. "Oh, I've done plenty of that. Traveling on my own." He admitted, but perked his cheery attitude again. "I love it! Do what you want; go anywhere!" He stated optimistically. "Hey! Well, better get used to it. I'm not leaving your side, if I have any say in the matter. Too much traveling alone. It's not healthy." Briazra muttered, pouting slightly, but smiled lightly to the Doctor who returned the smile.

"Yeah, well, I'm still getting used to traveling alone, myself. I've... found myself single rather recently. Not by choice." She told them, turning Briazra's smile quickly into a solemn, genuine frown. "I'm sorry." She offered to the saddened divorcee. "What happened?" The Doctor asked, consoling her as best he could by talking with her about it.

"Oh, the usual. She needed her own space, as they say. A different galaxy, in fact. I reckon that's enough space, don't you?" Sky asked, obviously a little bit annoyed by the actions of her apparent ex-wife. And yet, Briaz didn't think she was being entirely truthful. It seemed like Sky had left for her own protection. "Yeah... I had a friend who went to a different universe." He muttered, Briazra sighing as she knew exactly who he was talking about.

"If you were meant to see her again, Doctor, Rose Tyler will be back." She reassured him, though wanted to say that a different way. If she had, however, the Doctor would have been really upset to hear it. Quickly finishing off her meal, she cleaned up her space and waited for the doctor to move on to a new conversation. She didn't like when he got depressed about Rose. "Well, what is this? Chicken or beef?" Sky asked, making her chuckle, which grew to the Doctor intrigued retorted of "I think it's both."

"Whatever it was, it was good." Briazra admitted, laughing.

_251 Kliks later…_

"So, this is Midnight." The professor announced, trying to amaze them by tone of voice alone. He had a slideshow up via projector. He had mentioned having it along as part of his research to the Doctor, and being unable to resist learning something that he, for once, didn't already know. When he asked, Briazra groaned, but Jethro seemed somewhat interested and decided she might as well listen since he would have to display it in front of everyone anyway. However, somehow deep inside, she felt severely annoyed with the Doctor for encouraging his pomposity. She'd get over it, but she just really didn't like Hobbes.

"d'you see? Bombarded by the sun! Xtonic rays, raw galvanic radiation. Dee Dee, next slide!" Hobbes continued, enthusiastically, eager to show off his knowledge and stopping only so his assistant could change to the next slide. She quirked a small smile at that, only because it sort of reminded her of the Doctor. He liked to show off his knowledge, too.

"It's my pet project. Actually, I'm the first person to research this. Because you see... the history is fascinating," He continued on once the next slide was up, this time stopping for dramatic pause, "because there is no history. There's no life in this entire system, there couldn't be. Before the Leisure Palace Company moved in, no-one had come here in all eternity. No living thing."

At this little bit, she huffed. It wasn't true. She could feel deep inside her, there was something not human on this planet, and they were nearing it. It was something that was there even before the Leisure Palace was brought into place. She could only guess that something would happen very soon, judging from the fact that her foreboding feeling was strengthening with every few kliks. She sent a quick worrying glance to the Doctor, which he evidently understood and grinned. She rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm, but smiled anyway.

It grew to a smirk as Jethro brought up the point that no one has ever actually seen outside, which the Doctor backed up after his mother became annoyed. "Anyway, there's nothing wrong with imagination." Briaz pointed out, rolling her eyes, as the professor answered that it was exactly his point that life couldn't be sustain outside their safe "Metal box." Briaz became annoyed again, and became defensive.

"It doesn't mean there's not any other life out there. Something without an actual physical form could survive. It doesn't have to have a physical form to be alive." She pointed out, glad to be able shut the guy up, though he didn't seem willing to give up the argument. He'd surely have continued, had she not perked up and spoke again. "Wait, a second... Why are we stopping?" She asked, blinking. The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed.

"What do you mean? We're not stop-" He started, just as the vehicle did come to a stop. "Huh... Well, that's interesting. Have any idea why?" He asked, the question in a low voice, seeing that Briazra obviously wanted to keep herself under wraps that trip, ignoring the arguments their fellow passengers were having. She gave a smile that he understood it, but it quickly faded as she shook her head. He shrugged. "Well, one way to find out."


	4. Chapter 3: The Threat Appears

_Chapter 3: The Threat Appears_

He was out of his seat in seconds, Briazra following instantly on his tail like a loyal puppy, with the psychic paper in his hands. The hostess had attempted to stop them, trying to establish order from chaos.

"There you go, engine expert and assistant! Two ticks!" He told her, pushing past, Briazra apologizing for it and promising the hostess they wouldn't be long and do anything. The Driver, himself, wasn't too comfortable with them being there, and Briazra frowned at the mental state of confusion with them both as he also asked them to go take their seats. As usual, the Doctor always had answers with his psychic paper.

"Company insurance, let's see if we can get an early assessment. So, what's the problem, Driver Joe?" He asked, scanning the dashboard and everything for problems. Joe, the driver, mentioned stabilizing engine feeds, but they both knew that was wrong. "Um, no, 'cos that's the engine feed, that light there, and it's fine, and it's a Micropetrol engine, so stabilizing doesn't really make sense, does it? Sorry! I'm the Doctor, I'm very clever." He asked, resulting in getting lightly whacked for announcing his cleverness as Briazra often did when he told people that. "Well, I am!" He protested, pouting very slightly, and getting a response of rolling eyes from. "So, what's wrong?"

"We just stopped." The seeming co-pilot of sorts announced once he realized the Doctor wouldn't be fooled by the given excuse to avoid panic. "Look, all systems fine and everything's working, but we're not moving." He told him, just before the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and gave a quick scanning of the systems for a second opinion. The Doctor also gave a quick glance at Briazra, while doing so, whom seemed to be in a trance-like state, though he knew better that she was just trying to gather whatever information she could.

"Yeah, you're right. No faults. And who are you?" The Doctor asked, and the guy was about to introduce himself, but Briaz answered for him. Something she tended to do when she was frustrated, when her gift was giving her almost nothing to work with. "His name's Claude and he's a trainee mechanic." She muttered, surprising Claude. He started to open his mouth to how she knew that, but held up a hand to stop him. "I'm a high-level psychic. Please don't talk. I'm trying to focus."

"Nice to meet you." He stated, though somewhat half-heartedly, attention now on his dragonoid friend. "Are you getting anything, Sparky?" He asked, curiously, and lowly enough to not break her concentration too much.

"Really, Doctor? You're still on Sparky?" She asked, raising her eyebrow to him, though smirked a little. He grinned back, but she only saw that for a second, before sighing and giving him the little information she gathered. "It seems as if something's interfering with the system. It's like an outside force is causing the engines to stop. Other than that, I've got nothing." She muttered, sighing in exasperation. "One thing is for sure: That Hobbes guy was wrong. There's definitely some odd form of life around here and I don't think it's friendly." She muttered, her expression crestfallen as she was obviously getting a bad feeling about it all.

"I've sent a distress signal. They should dispatch a rescue truck, top speed." The Driver explained to them, relaxing Briazra a little bit, even though it would be a while to get here.

"How long 'til they get here?" The Doctor had asked, which Joe told them it would be an approximate hour. "Well, since we're waiting… shall we take a look outside? Just… lift the screens a bit?" He asked, Briazra smirking at their thinking he was crazy. Normally, she would interject, but this time, she didn't. Not well received, Driver Joe protested that they would be vaporized by the Xtonic sunlight if they even tried. As usual, the Doctor had a clever answer. "Naaaaaah, those windows are Finitoglass, they'd give you a couple of minutes. Go on! Live a little!"

Finally, the shields were raised. The lot of them stared, incredulous, Briazra so taken by the sight that her breath was caught mid-inhalation. "Oh, my gosh! It's amazing!" She uttered, just the moment the Doctor called it beautiful, and it was. It truly was.

The Doctor smiled at her, but Briaz was too distracted to notice. This was what he lived to travel for, to share incredible sights with the people who accepted the dangers of doing so. His companions deserved the sight-seeing after all they willingly put themselves through in his name. He regretted that much, but at least he could make certain days brighter. His mind quickly did a 180-degree shift, as it thought of something.

"Joe, you said we took a detour?" He asked the Driver, curiously, which was confirmed. Forty kliks to the West. It wasn't a recognized path. It was one just worked out by the computer on automatic. Briazra could only wish it hadn't, that they could have gone the usual. Now, she was an adventurous girl. Danger never really bothered her. In fact, the day she had met the Doctor, she realized that her life would probably end up in danger on her camping trip and still went, despite knowing people had been turning up dead around the area. Even now, she still felt she owed the Doctor for saving her, even though according to him, it was more the other was around.

This was different, though. She could feel it deep inside her that something was going to happen, that something would happen that would deeply upset her. She wanted to know what, and yet she really, really didn't.

"So, we're the first? This piece of ground. No-one's ever been here before. Not in the whole of recorded history." She heard the Doctor say, the excitement evident in his tone, and knew he was glad that she was there to experience it with him. She supposed he'd be happier if Donna had been able to see it, too, but one was better than no on. Then, she winced, feeling suddenly sickened. The Doctor quickly became concerned, but got distracted by something Claude said, yet didn't say.

"What did you see?" He asked with a hint of urgency, torn between that and asking Briazra what was wrong. He had wanted to, but nothing was boding well, and somehow guessed that whatever Claude had seen was the key to it all. Claude pointed towards a diamond ridge, and everyone started to follow his gaze.

"Just there. That ridge. Like… like a shadow. Just, just for a second." He started, unsure that he'd even saw anything. The Doctor asked what sort of shadow it was, but Claude didn't get a chance to reply before alarms rang and Joe was forced to put shields back down. As they started to, however, something caught Claude's gaze again. "Look, look! There it is! There it is! Look, there!"

The Doctor scanned for whatever it was, asking where and what it was, but couldn't see it before the shields finished closing. Briazra officially felt a dizzying feeling, almost ready to collapse, but held her composure well, sensing it would pass when she had to get her butt in gear to help the Doctor save the day.

"Like, just, something… shifting, something sort of… dark. Like it was… running." Claude explained, confused, but a little bit panicky. No one could blame him for that, but the Doctor had to know. "Running which way?" He asked, to which a somewhat hysterical Claude responded with a "Towards us..."

"The threat appears..." Briazra muttered, still feeling a little sick. At least, it was passing. Too bad the shadow creature wasn't.


	5. Chapter 4: Arrival of Evil

_Chapter 4: Arrival of Evil_

The Doctor felt a thrill going through him, the usual thrill that came and went every time someone around him was in danger and needed his help. It was what he lived for, to save other peoples' lives and to travel and make his companions happy. It bothered him, though, that Briazra had such terrible feelings about coming. She was never like this. Sure, she worried about him, sometimes as much as Donna and even Rose. This was different.

"Right, Doctor, back to your seat and not a word, rescue's on its way. If you could close the door, thank you." The Driver told them, causing Briaz to perk up with a much too quick and panicky, "No!" To which, she quickly added a much calmly. "What I mean is, can't you both come with us? I wouldn't know what you'd want us to tell them that wouldn't give them reason to panic. It would just be a whole lot easier and wouldn't take more than a minute. It's... not exactly like we'll be going anywhere." She offered, leaving the Doctor well beyond confused, but trusting her instincts enough to play along.

The driver and trainee mechanic looked at each, seeming to be a little bit hesitant, but Claude shrugged a silent "Why not?" The Doctor took the opportunity to agree. "Well, she has a point there. If we've completely stopped, it will take more than a minute to get back on-line again. They're all going to have questions, and if you don't want us to tell them the wrong things, you may want to be the one explaining everything." He told them, watching the Driver sigh before nodding in agreement. "Alright, fine. But, we're only staying for a minute. After that, we'll have to 'leave the reigns' with you, or so they used to say."

With that, the four of them headed to where the other travelers were waiting, the Doctor and a very relieved Briazra at the front and Joe and Claude at the rear. It didn't take very long to get bombarded with questions from Sky. "What did they say? Did they tell you? What is it, what's wrong?" the businesswoman asked the Doctor, before noticing that Driver Joe was there too, and proceeded to ask him directly what was going on.

"Now, calm down, please! Everyone, please get to your seats. We're just stabilizing the engine. It won't take very long and we'll back en route, shortly." He told them, taking a moment to make sure everyone was calm and in their proper seats before meeting with the Hostess. Unfortunately, people didn't stay calm for very long. Briazra knew it would start up again, and as if on cue, Dee Dee was softly inquiring, "Excuse me, Doctor, but they're micropetrol engines, aren't they?"

As usual, Professor Hobbes once again tried to feign superiority and tried to get his assistant to quiet down. Briazra glared at her, in such a way that he seemed to flinch before huffing with annoyed pride as he returned the glare her way. She growled very lowly in warning, before the Doctor sent her a quick, disapproving look. She shook her head slightly, sighing as she returned to focusing.

"My father was a mechanic. Micropetrol doesn't stabilize, what does 'stabilize' mean?" Dee Dee asked, knowing better and growing a little more confident as the statement was made. This caused the chaos to restart, despite the Doctor's efforts, causing Driver Joe to come back over and explain as he did with the Doctor. However, he didn't get the chance.

"How much air have we got?" Hobbes asked, and unnecessarily made sure everyone could hear him so that he could get his answer. Briazra shot up out of her seat, seething in her irritation. "You idiot, there is **no **problem with air. That isn't the issue at all! Now, shut your mouth and cool your jets, will you?" She yelled, unable to stand him, anymore. The Doctor was very surprised with that much. She was always so well-behaved, cooperative, and happy-go-lucky. She could practically get along with anyone.

"I would just… Do as she says, please, Professor Hobbes?" He asked, eyebrow raised at his companion, who took a deep, relaxing breath. Honestly, she'd have been a lot more tolerate, but that thing was coming, and she didn't need that attitude of his. As it was, it had been enough to get Val's attention on the subject of air and panic, spreading fear like a virus. Briazra sighed, allowing the Doctor to take on the role of getting everything back organized. As it were, she was gaining a growing headache, which was never, ever good. "I need an aspirin, or something with the same effects..." She muttered before taking another deep breath as Val finally began to snap under the tension, beginning to take it out on the hostess and Driver.

"How much air have we got?" the mother of the family of three harshly questioned the hostess, much to the son's chagrin who asked her to stop. The Driver attempted to explain that they had plenty of air. There were no problems in that area, whatsoever, and contemplating returning now. That minute was already up, but leaving now would probably be a mistake. Finally, the Doctor had enough of the noise level, shouting a very loud "Quiet!" over their voices and managed to get them all to stop talking.

"Thank you. Now, if you'd care to listen to my good friend Dee Dee…" He murmured, allowing her to speak, though Hobbes obviously secretly felt she didn't know anything. "Oh! Um… it's just that… well, the air's on a circular filter so… we could stay breathing for ten years." The unknown mechanic's timid daughter offered out for reassurance, obviously working as everyone stayed silent.

"There you go!" The doctor started.

"Doctor..." Briazra started, knowing exactly what was coming, breathing growing heavy with fear and worry.

"And the captain can attest to this-" He continued on, as if he hadn't heard the human-looking dragon girl at all.

"Doctor." She called as he spoke onward, loud enough to get his attention, but to no avail. He was too busy trying to calm them down.

"I can guarantee you."

"Doctor, don't!" She warned, as if just saying those few words would be what starts up all the trouble, but he ignored her. The one and only time she knew of that he completely was ignoring her.

"Everything will be just fine!" The Doctor told them. Then, came two ominous, resonating knocks at the vehicle's rooftop, startling everyone and bringing back the fear the both of them had worked hard to relieve everyone of. Briazra growled lowly, trembling slightly, but was more protective than anything.

"And so comes the arrival of a new evil..." She uttered to herself, mostly, determined to keep the lot of them safe from its clutches.

**((Author's notes: Just wanted to give to give a semi-belated birthday shout-out to the main reason I got this chapter in tonight! ^w^**

**Happy birthday, Mike!**

**Read and review, please, people!))**


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